S 1483 
T4 

opy 1 



J 



m 

I >> > 



►5 > 



/; -s,> 




o » > > 5 

j ••>:>> >;• 

» >? 



>>-> > 

MS 
>^ > 




: ^ • - 



> >> > 

> > > > 




til It ; 

> > 

> > >>• > ~S 

> > ;> tUK 



situ 



^> 

• > ? 

r ? >: 

> > > 



>> > V- ^ 



i 5> .» 3 > 



) > > .: 
> >> 



>;>.;>> 




QC\ i ltofs S. Te-rrVT ^ 



... , «^ . . , ., . . 3 ' ■ tm i 



TLbe Sons of Songs 

Hn Unspirefc HDelo&rama 



MILTON S. TERRY 

professor in Garrett biblical ITnstltute 




Cincinnati: Cranston ano Curts 
IRevv l^orn : 1bunt anD Baton 
1893 




Copyright 
BY CRANSTON & CURTS, 
1893. 



C control Number 

■11 

tm P 96 02905! 



sfrong as IhafFr is loos ! 
ilnrxoraole as If ell is ilralousg; 
3tts flames are flames of flre, 
®I;e flashing flames of 3aff. 
B)ang raafers ran not guencfj fffe passion of looe, 
Bor can rioers ooerrafjelm if. 
3f a man monlb gtoe all ffje suosfanre of Ffis Fjouse 

for looe, 
SFjeg moulb ufterlg bespise ffim. 

3 



3 abjure you, © bankers of Jmtsatem, 
By if;e ga^IIss anb by ffj£ fjinbs of ftslb^ 
®Ijaf ys awaken no! nor rouse up 
passion of loos until if phase! 



XLbc Song of Songs* 



1. Under this title we find in the Hebrew Scriptures 
a most exquisite poem, the obvious purpose of which is 
to celebrate the passion of human love. The author was 
familiar with the Holy Land, from the tents of Kedar 
to the heights of Lebanon. He mentions Carmel, and 
Sharon, and Amanah, and Shenir, and Hermon, and Da- 
mascus, and Gilead, and Baal-hamou, and Heshbon, and 
Bath-rabbim, and En-gedi, and Jerusalem, and Tirzah, and 
Tarshish. He exhibits the keenest delight in rural land- 
scapes and the life of shepherds, and speaks of water- 
courses, and gardens, and vineyards, and trees, and lilies, 
and flowers ; of goats that gambol on the hillside, and 
gazelles that leap on the mountains, and doves that hide 
in the nooks of the rocks. 

2. Some have been troubled with the presence of this 
book in the sacred canon, and, without doubt, the defects 

5 



6 



INTRODUCTION. 



of our common English version have had much to do in 
creating prejudice against it. The translators have intro- 
duced indelicate allusions where the original text calls 
for no such rendering. There is not, from beginning to 
end of this beautiful drama, a sentiment that can be justly 
condemned as offensive to good taste. 

3. But many and various are the interpretations that 
have been put upon the poetic language of the drama. 
(1) The old allegorical theory makes it a portraiture of the 
love existing between God and his people, or of Christ and 
his Church. (2) Closely allied to this is the semi-allegor- 
ical, or symbolical interpretation, which resolves the song 
into a parable of Christ and his beloved bride, the Church. 
(3) According to others the song celebrates the marriage 
of Solomon and Pharaoh's daughter (1 Kings iii, 1), while it 
may also have an allegorical application to Christ and the 
Church. (4) Another opinion is, that the bride is not 
Pharaoh's daughter, but some otherwise unknown maiden 
of northern Palestine, whom Solomon loved, and brought 
from her country home to be a favored one among the 
seven hundred wives mentioned in 1 Kings xi, 3. And 
yet (5) another view, and the one adopted in the following 



INTRO D UCTION. 



7 



exposition, is, that the heroine of this poetic drama is to 
be understood as a fair young maiden of northern Pales- 
tine, whom king Solomon is supposed to have sought in 
vain to win. She resists all his blandishments, rejects all 
his offers, and remains true to her shepherd lover, to whom 
she is at last restored. 

4. The title says it is a " Song of Songs which is to 
Solomon" This may mean either that it belongs to Sol- 
omon as its author, or that it has reference to Solomon as 
its subject. The contents of the Song, as analyzed and ex- 
plained in the following pages, are incompatible with the 
view that Solomon was the author. The poet appears to 
have no friendly feeling towards that monarch, but the 
scope of the drama is to condemn his attempt to win the 
affection of one who protests that her love is elsewhere. 
She insists that she is not at home in the king's chambers. 
Her lover is one who feeds his flock among the lilies, and 
frequents the gardens and the vineyards. She tells the 
king that, so far from finding delight in his sumptuous 
halls, she is herself " a wild-flower of Sharon, a lily of the 
valleys." She longs for the shady greensward, where the 
scattered cedars and cypress-trees formed the beams and 



8 



INTRODUCTION. 



panels of a living forest-temple over her beloved and her- 
self. Nay, more, her beloved is himself " like an apple-tree 
among the trees of the forest." In view of these and 
many other similar assertions, the most probable suppo- 
sition is that the author of our Song was some poet of the 
northern kingdom of Israel, who lived and wrote after the 
secession of the ten tribes, and perhaps while the capital 
was yet at Tirzah. (Compare chapter vi, 4, with 1 Kings 
xiv, 17 ; xvi, 6, 8, 15, 23.) As a woman is the heroine, it is 
not very improbable that the author was a woman. Who 
more fitting than a gifted female poet, like the prophetess 
who dwelt of old under the palm-tree in the mountains of 
Ephraim (Judges iv, 5), to celebrate in a sacred drama the 
pure, unwavering loves of a woman's heart ! As the Book 
of Job exhibits in poetic form the trials and triumph of a 
true man, so the Song of Songs extols the virtue and un- 
changeable affection of a true woman, when put to the 
severest test. 

5. The heroine is called in chapter vi, 13, THE Shulam- 
mite (Hebrew, Shulammith, or Shulammitess.) This name 
may have been suggested to the poet by the story of the 
fair damsel, Abishag the Shunarnmite, who was sought out 



INTRODUCTION. 



9 



and brought to David in his old age. (i Kings i, 3, 4, 15; 
ii, 17.) But the drama, being essentially a work of art, 
need not be supposed to record facts of history. The 
author may have chosen the word Shulammite on purpose 
to recall the memory of the Shunamtnite maiden, and to 
show that such attempts to allure fair young women of Israel 
into the royal palace was no unheard-of event. Solomon's 
harem probably contained many a damsel, who, like the 
Shunammite Abishag, had been " sought for throughout 
all the coasts of Israel." This fact gave sufficient ground 
for a poet to construct the ideal of this Song of Songs, and 
to celebrate the passion of love in its pure protest against 
all attempts to force it into unnatural and unhallowed 
action. 

6. The chief .difficulty in the interpretation of this poem 
is found in the fact that the several persons of the drama 
(dramatis persona?) are not formally supplied by the author. 
We are thus shut up to the necessity of supplying these by 
means of a critical study and analysis of the language of the 
author. Think of reading one of Shakespeare's great plays 
without any list of the persons represented, or any clew ex- 
cept that which the language and sentiments supply ! But 



IO 



INTRODUCTION. 



such is our position when we come to the study of this Song 
of Songs. We must determine, at each line, who the 
speaker is, and what the situation. Under such limitation 
it is evident that, in some passages, no interpreter can be 
absolutely certain as to the exact situation, or the person 
speaking, so that in such cases several different explanations 
are possible. 

7. The thrice repeated adjuration, which is found in 
chapters ii, 7; iii, 5; and viii, 4; and which seems to con- 
clude each of the first three acts of the drama, furnishes an 
important help to the true interpretation. Three times 
over the Shulammite cries out: 

"I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, 
By the gazelles and by the hinds of the field, 
That ye awaken not nor rouse up 
The passion of love until it please." 

The common version of this impassioned appeal misses 
the real thought of the writer. It is not the silly notion 
that the speaker fears that the women of Jerusalem will 
wake up her lover before he pleases to awake, but rather 
a solemn protest against their attempt to arouse in her 
a love for Solomon, when the burning passion of her heart 



INTRODUCTION. 



II 



is centered on her own shepherd-lover. This doctrine of 
the inviolableness of true love is expressed still more em- 
phatically near the close of the poem : 

" For strong as death is love; 
Inexorable as hell is jealousy : 
Its flames are flames of fire, 
The flashing flames of Jah. 

Many waters can not quench the passion of love, 
And rivers can not overwhelm it. 

If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, 
They would utterly despise him." 

— Chapter viii, 6, 7. 

8. A further clew to the true interpretation is found in 
chapter vi, 11, 12, where Shulammith says: 

"Unto the nut-garden I went down, 
To see the greens of the valley, 
To see whether the vines were in blossom, 
Whether the pomegranates had bloomed. 
I know not (how) my soul set me 
Into the chariots of Amminadib. , ' 

The most obvious meaning of this language is that, 
when she was out in the fields one day, she was suddenly 
taken, she hardly knows how, into a chariot, and carried 



12 



INTRODUCTION. 



away from the gardens and vineyards she had been wont 
to keep. She seems to have been captured in some un« 
thought-of manner, dazed and bewildered, so as to lose 
her self-possession, and in this half-conscious condition she 
makes her first appearance in the opening scene of the 
drama. 

9. Not only in the opening scene, but throughout the 
poem, the utterances of the Shulammite show her to be 
passionately in love. This fact she makes no secret, but 
rather shows every possible effort to have it clearly known. 
It is the first confession of her lips as she comes to herself 
in the chariot in which she has been taken, and it is made 
known in a great variety of expressions during the progress 
of the drama. Her thoughts are with her heart, and that 
is far away with her lover — where the flocks repose, where 
the vineyards bloom, and the voice of the turtle-dove is 
heard. Such love is a holy passion, and worthy to be ex- 
tolled in the volume of divine inspiration. Wherever it 
exists in its charming purity and power, it truly represents 
the blessed relation existing between God and his people, 
or between Christ and his Church. 

10. With this brief introduction to the Song, and in 



INTRODUCTION. 



13 



accordance with this theory of its plan and purpose, we 
furnish in the following pages a new translation and anal- 
ysis, accompanied by such expository foot-notes as may be 
needed or desired by the reader. The division of the 
drama into four acts accords with the contents and charac- 
ter of the subject-matter. As the first scene is very short, 
but all-sufficient to place the subject vividly before us, so 
the last act, consisting of but one scene, is correspondingly 
short, but ample for exhibiting the happy triumph of the 
maiden. In the third act, however, Solomon and his 
women make the most prolonged and persistent effort to 
overcome the will of Shulammith, and that act consists of 
three scenes, and is accordingly the longest section of the 
drama. 



The critical reader of our translation will observe at several places 
our disregard of the Masoretic pointing. That system was introduced 
when the true meaning of the Song was not understood, and pronominal 
suffixes are in several instances pointed as masculine where they are 
obviously feminine. Even in the text of the adjuration addressed directly 
to women (ii, 7; iii, 5; viii, 4), the suffixes are masculine. 



Sir? Smg, of ^rmg& 



Bramatis personam 



Solomon, the king. 

Officers and Attendants of the King. 
Citizens of Jerusalem. 

Women of Jerusalem, belonging to the harem of Solomon. 
A Charioteer (Amminadib ?). 

Shulammith, a beautiful young maiden of Northern Palestine. 
Brothers of Shulammith (probably half-brothers). 
The Lover of Shulammith, a young shepherd of Northern 
Palestine. 

16 



Sty* 



Act I. Chapter I, 2— II, 7. 



jptrst Scene, 1, 2— 4 a. 

[Shulammith appears in a chariot, driven by the royal char- 
ioteer. She is surrounded by a company of court ladies 
from Solomon's harem, and is just awaking from the stupor 
in which she was taken into the chariot (compare chapter 
vi, 12). She murmurs in her waking consciousness, not yet 
realizing her situation as a captive, while the women bend 
forward, eager to catch the first words that escape her lips, 
Lnd anxious to make her feel at home among them. The 
scene is a short one, as must needs be in a moving chariot; 
but it is sufficient to introduce the subject.] 

Shulammith. 
2. Let him kiss me from kisses of his mouth. 

2. From kisses. — In a partitive sense, as if the thought were : one or 
more of the many kisses he may give. Thy loves. — Caresses and other 
like manifestations of affection. 



i8 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap. I. 



Women of Jerusalem. 
For better are thy loves than wine. 

3. In fragrance thy ointments are good ; 

As ointment shall thy name be poured out; 
Therefore maidens love thee. 

Shulammith. 

[Now first fully waking to realize her situation, is seized with 
an impulse to flee away and escape, and she cries out to 
the charioteer in front of her:] 

4. Draw me after thee! Let us run! 

[Exeunt.] 



Second Scene, i, 4— h. 7. 

[One of the apartments for women in a country residence of the 
king, where it has been arranged for him first to meet Shu- 
lammith. She and the women of Jerusalem are at first 
alone together.] 

Shulammith. 
4. The king has brought me into his chambers! 



Act I, Sc. 2. THE SONG OF SONGS. 19 

Women of Jerusalem. 

We will greatly exult and rejoice in thee, 
We will celebrate thy loves more than wine; 
Rightly have they loved thee. 

Shulammith. 

5. Dark am I, and comely, 

O daughters of Jerusalem! 

Women of Jerusalem [interrupting]. 
Like the tents of Kedar, 
Like the curtains of Solomon. 

Shulammith. 

6. O do not keep looking at me because I am 

swarthy, 

Because the sun has scorched me; 

The sons of my mother were angry with me; 



20 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap. I. 



They made me keeper of the vineyards; 
My vineyard, which was mine, I have not 
kept. 

7. O tell me, thou, whom my soul loveth, 

Where dost thou feed, where dost thou rest 
at noon? 

Ah ! why should I be like a woman veiled, 
Beside the flocks of thy companions? 

6. Made me keeper of vineyards. — The absurdity of such a statement 
in the mouth of a princess like the daughter of Pharaoh is apparent. 
But such service for a country maiden is more natural, and in keeping 
with the probable rigor of brothers who talk about her in the tone and 
style of chapter viii, 8, 9. My vineyard. — Here she doubtless uses the 
word vineyard in some tropical sense. It is not some vineyard like that 
which her brothers set her to guard, and which belonged to her as a legal 
portion of the paternal estate. Both here and at chapter viii, 12, she seems 
rather to refer to her own person, not excepting her freedom, her home, 
and the familiar scenes of her childhood and early life. These she 'sees, 
at the close of the drama, restored to her again. 



7. Woman veiled. — Like one of lost virtue. Compare Genesis xxxviii> 
14, 15- 



Act I, Sc. 2. THE SONG OF SONGS. 21 

One of the Women. 

[Impatient that a country girl should prefer the associations of 
shepherd life to those of royalty, and speaking by way of 
contemptuous rebuke and sarcasm.] 

8. If thou know not for thyself, thou beauty 

among women, 
Go forth for thyself at the heels of the flock, 
And feed thy kids by the lodges of the shep- 
herds. 

\E71ter King Solomon.] 
Solomon. 

9. To my mare in the chariots of Pharaoh 
Have I been comparing thee, my consort. 

10. Comely are thy cheeks in the chains, — 
Thy neck in the strings of pearls. 

The Women. 

11. Chains of gold we will make for thee, 
Together with studs of silver. 



22 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap. I. 



ShuLAMMITH [shrinking away]. 

12. Until the king was among its surroundings, 
My nard gave out its fragrance. 

13. A bag of myrrh is my love to me, 
Upon my bosom it shall still remain. 

14. A bunch of cypress flowers is my love to me, 

Among the vineyards of En-gedi. 

Solomon. 

15. Behold, thou art beautiful, my consort; 
Behold, thou art beautiful, thy eyes are doves. 

12. The language of this verse implies that Shulamniith is annoyed 
by the king's presence. Until he came in, such charms as she possessed 
exerted their natural attractions, but have no response at his approach. 

13. Bag of myrrh is MY love. — Emphasis on my. Her love is not the 
king, but an absent friend, whose memory, like a bundle of myrrh or a 
bouquet of delightful flowers, she will keep day and night upon her 
bosom as a token of her heart's affection. The mention of En-gedi is 
designed to enhance the idea of the richness of flowers growing in a 
clime so tropical. 



Act I, Sc. 2. 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



23 



Shuixammith. 

[Speaking as to one far away.] 

16. Behold, thou art beautiful, my love, 
Aye, and delightful, 

Aye, and our bed is a fresh green. 

17. The beams of our house are cedars, 
Our panels are cypress trees. 

II, 1. I am a wild flower of Sharon, 
A lily of the valleys. 

16. Our bed a fresh green. — Reference to the shady greensward, on 
which she and her lover had been accustomed to repose and converse. 
Ivike all the imagery which follows, it contains a delicate reminder that 
she loves the fields and the woods, not the attractions of king's houses. 

17. Cedars, cypress trees. — Note in this verse the imagery of an open 
forest, a house of nature's own formation, in which siding and roof con- 
sist of the living trees. 

II, 1. Wild flower. — And so at home in the open fields, in valley, or 
hillside, but not in the hothouse. By these strong metaphors she would 
fain have all who hear her understand that she is no product of the 
court of kings, but longs rather for her country home. 



24 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap. II. 



Solomon. 



2. 



So 



As 



a lily among the thorns, 

is my consort among the daughters. 



Shulammith. 



3. As an apple-tree among the trees of the forest, 
So is my love among the sons ; 

In its shade I delighted and sat down, 
And its fruit was sweet to my palate. 

4. He brought me to the house of wine, 
And his banner over me was love. 



2, Lily amo7ig thorns. — If a lily, he would say, all other growths 
around you are as thorns. Compare also vi, 8, 9. 

3. Apple-tree . . . forest. — She thus shows consummate ability to 
meet the king with telling repartee. Those interpreters who, like De- 
litzsch and Zockler, regard this conversation between Solomon and Shu- 
lammith as the language of two lovers flattering each other to the face, 
seem to me to miss the real delicacy which the high genius and art of 
the poem everywhere display. Such words of glowing admiration have 
great force when spoken of an absent lover, but would be fulsome in 
direct address. Moreover, the perfect tense in her words, "/ delighted 
and sat down" points most naturally to past enjoyments. 



Act I, Sc. 2. THE SONG OF SONGS. 



25 



[At this point, the vivid remembrance of past joys overwhelms 
her, and she bursts out in a wild emotion, as she utters 
the following impassioned strain, with which this first act 
closes.] 

5. O stay me with comfits, refresh me with apples, 
For I am sick with love. 

6. His left hand shall be underneath my head, 
And his right hand shall embrace me. 

7. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, 
By the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, 
That ye awaken not nor rouse up the passion 

of love until it please ! 

[Exeu?it.] 

6. The sentiment of this verse is equivalent to " He is the only one 
who shall ever embrace me with a lover's freedom." 

7. The passion of love— This form of expression is required to bring 
out in English the force of the Hebrew word, preceded, as here, not only 
by the definite article, but also the demonstrative particle. 



26 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap. II. 



Act II. Chapter II, 8— III, 5. 

jfirst Scene, n, 8-17. 

[A soliloquy of Shulammith while alone in her chamber. Her 
heart and thoughts are with her absent lover; her lively 
imagination brings him near, and she seems to hear his 
voice as at former times, and sings to herself the following 
song.] 

Shulammith. 

8. Hark ! The voice of my love! 
Lo, there he comes, 
Leaping over the mountains, 
Bounding over the hills ! 

9. How like a gazelle is my love, 
Or a fawn of the hinds ! 

8. The voice of my love. — This love-song, like many another, is the 
natural expression of an instinct implanted in the human heart. The 
woman's desire is toward the man, as declared in Genesis iii, 16; but it is 
also true that his desire is upon her, as stated in this Song, chapter vii, 10. 



Act II, Sc. i. THE SONG OF SONGS. 27 

Lo, there he stands behind our wall, 
Looking in from the windows, 
Glancing round from the lattice ! 

10. My love answered and said to me, 

" Rise up, my consort, my fair one, and walk 
forth for thine own sake. 

11. For lo, the winter is over, 

The rain has passed by, it has gone, 

12. The flowers have appeared in the land, 
The time of song has come, 

And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in 
our land. 

13. The fig-tree has spiced its winter-green figs, 
And the vines are abloom, they give out 

fragrance. 

12. Time of song. — The glad songs of spring-time. 

13. Winter-green figs. — A kind which grows in sheltered places dur - 
ing the winter season, and ripens in the spring. 



28 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap. II 



Rise up, walk forth, my consort, my fair one, 
yea, walk forth for thine own sake. 

14. My dove in the nooks of the rock, in the 

covert of the bluff, 
Let me see thy form, let me hear thy voice, 
For thy voice is charming and thy form is 

comely." 

[At this point she changes her tone, and trills a few lines of a 
familiar ditty she has been wont to sing for the entertain- 
ment of her lover among the blooming vineyards.] 

15. Catch ye for us the foxes, 

Little foxes damaging to vineyards, 
And our vineyards are abloom. 

[After a pause she changes, and sings the following fragment of 
another song familiar to her lover.] 

16. My love is mine and I am his, 
Who feeds among the lilies. 



Act II, Sc. i. THE SONG OF SONGS. 



29 



17. Until the day breathes cool, 
And the shadows flee, 
Turn, be for thine own sake, my love, 
Like a gazelle or a fawn of the hinds, 
On the mountains of Bether. 

. [Exit.] 

17. Shadows flee. — Poetical concept of the lengthening shadows, when 
they stretch away longer and longer, as if departing with the setting sun. 
Compare Psalm cii, 1 1 ; cix, 23 ; Job xiv, 2. Bether. — If this word were 
designed as an adjective-genitive (as Septuagint, "mountain of clefts"), 
we should have had the plural form, as w r e have of the word for spices in 
chapter viii, 14. The plural does occur in Jeremiah xxxiv, 18, 19. Com- 
pare also Genesis xv, 10. But the singular, as occurring here, is best 
understood as the name of some mountainous region ; perhaps a poetical 
name for Bithron beyond the Jordan. See 2 Samuel ii, 29. 

Zockler strangely writes : " The adherents of the shepherd hypothesis 
are not able to explain why the description in chapter ii, 8-17, presup- 
poses an undoubted country scene, with mountains, hills, vineyards, and 
flowery fields ; or why it is a simple monologue, and neither Solomon nor 
the daughters of Jerusalem utter a word." On the contrary, we believe 
this shepherd hypothesis, as exhibited in the foregoing analysis, is the 
only one which gives a natural meaning to the words. It is indeed a 
monologue, consisting of a series of fragmentary utterances and songs, 
such as a captive maiden, yearning for her country home and lover, might 
be supposed to speak. 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap III. 



Seconfc Scene* hi, 1-5. 

[Scene in the same apartment as before, on another day, when 
the women are present. Shulammith rehearses before them 
a recent dream, and makes another appeal to them not to 
try further to arouse in her the passion of love for another 
than the one for whom her soul has a pure affection.] 

Ill, i. On my couch in the night-watches, 
I sought the one my soul loveth ; 
I sought him, but I did not find him. 

2. " Let me rise, now, (I said,) and go about in 

the city, 

In the streets and in the broad, open places, 
I will seek him whom my soul loveth." 
I sought him, but I did not find him. 

3. They found me — the watchmen who go round 

in the city ; 

"Him whom my soul loveth have ye seen?" 
(I asked;) 



Act II, Sc. 2. THE SONG OF SONGS, 31 

4. Scarcely had I passed away from them, 
When I found him whom my soul loveth; 
I caught him, and would not let him go, 
Until I had brought him to the house of my 

mother, 

And to the chamber of her that conceived me. 

5. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, 
By the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, 
That ye awaken not nor rouse up the passion 

of love until it please. 

[Exeunt.] 



3^ 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap. III. 



Act HI. Chapter III, 6 -VIII, 4. 

Jftrst Scene, iff, 6— n. 

[Scene near the entrance into Jerusalem. Shulammith is carried 
in a royal palanquin, and, in company with the women of 
Jerusalem, is guarded by a strong force of warriors. They 
are bringing her to the city and palace of Solomon, where 
the king is awaiting her arrival. He is arrayed in his royal 
robes, wears a crown, and is surrounded by some of his 
chief courtiers, and the entire procedure is designed to make 
on Shulammith an overpowering impression of the glory of 
King Solomon. As the procession advances from the open 
country and draws near the city, several of the people be- 
hold and speak as follows.] 

A Citizen. 

6. Who is this, coming up out of the wilderness 
like columns of smoke, 



6. Columns of smoke. — The allusion is not to the stature of Shulam- 
mith (compare chapter vii, 7), nor to the appearance of the palanquin, 



Act III, Sc. i. THE SONG OF SONGS. 33 

Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense out of 
every powder of the merchant ? 

Another Citizen. 

7. Behold! it is his litter, — Solomon's; 

Sixty heroes are round about it, from the heroes 
of Israel, 

8. All of them holding a sword, trained for war, 
Each one with his sword on his thigh, 
Because of fear in the night-watches. 

A Third Citizen. 

9. A palanquin King Solomon made for himself 
Out of the trees of Lebanon ; 

but to the ascending cloud of incense which is conceived as accompany- 
ing the procession. The perfumed smoke went upward, and its airy-thin 
column spread out at the top like a palm tree. 

8. Because of fear. — This gives a reason for the armed escort. The 
heroes wore their swords out of considerations of terror, or fear of such 
attacks as were likely to come in the darkness of the night. 



34 THE SONG OF SONGS. Chap. III. 

10. Its posts he made of silver, 
Its support of gold, 

Its riding seat of purple, 
Its middle part prepared in love by the 
daughters of Jerusalem. 

[The procession arrives at the king's palace, from which the 
royal chamberlain advances, and calls upon all the women 
to come forth out of the charge of the guard, and go into 
the palace and look upon Solomon in his glory.] 

King's Officer. 

11. Come forth and look, O daughters of Zion, 

upon King Solomon, 
With the crown wherewith his mother crowned 
him, 



ii. Crown. — Reference to some splendid coronet with which Solo- 
mon's mother is supposed to have crowned her royal son on the festive 
occasion of his marriage, either with Pharaoh's daughter or with some 
other of his wives. 



Act III, Sc. 2. THE SONG OF SONGS. 35 

In the day of his nuptials, 
And in the day of the gladness of his heart. 

[Exeunt, entering the palace.} 



Second Scene, iv, i— v, i. 

[A room in the palace, where the king is waiting with a number 
of his companions to meet and greet Shulammith, and win 
her, if possible, by his royal splendor and words of loving 
admiration. As she is led forward into his presence, the 
king first speaks.] 

Solomon. 

1. Behold, thou art fair, my consort; behold, thou 
art fair ! 

Thine eyes are doves from behind thy veil ; 
Thy hair, how like the flock of goats couched 
along mount Gilead ! 

IV, 1. Goats couched. — We are to think of the goats of Gilead, of 
glossy dark color, and couched down in careless repose along the steep 
mountain side. A large flock thus reposing would present a most fasci- 
nating picture to one looking up at them from below. 



36 THE SONG OF SONGS. Chap. IV. 

2. Thy teeth are like a flock of the shorn which 

have gone up from the washing, 
All of which are twin-bearing, and a bereaved 
one is not among them ; 

3. Like a thread of crimson are thy lips, 
And thy expressive mouth is comely; 

Like a slice of the pomegranate is thy temple 
from behind thy veil ; 

4. Like the tower of David is thy neck, builded 

for armory, 

A thousand shields suspended thereupon, all 
shields of the heroes; 

2. Twin-bearing. — Allusion to double rows of teeth, uppers and low- 
ers complete, not one wanting. 

4. Tozver of David. — A well-known tower at Jerusalem, connected, 
probably, in some way with the king's house (compare Nehemiah iii, 25) ; 
the same, perhaps, as that called the " tower of the flock " in Micah iv, 8, 
which was nearly synonymous with "the hill of the daughter of Zion." 
Builded for armory. — As the royal tower was adapted to bear the royal 
shields and other arms, so Shulammith's graceful neck was fitted to wear 
the wealth of ornamental jewelry. 



Act III, Sc. 2. THE SONG OF SONGS. 



37 



5. Thy two breasts are like two fawns, 

Twins of a gazelle, which feed among the 
lilies. 

[At this point Shulammith looks away, as if she would fain 
withdraw, and she gives utterance, aside, to a deep sigh for 
her mountain home. She has no response for the king's 
admiration, but shows that her thoughts are far away, and 
that she would prefer her native hills to the courts of Solo- 
mon.] 

Shulammith. 

6. Until the day breathes cool, and the shadows 

flee, 

I would, for my part, walk to the mountain of 
myrrh, 

And to the hill of frankincense. 

6. Shadows flee. — Compare chapter ii, 17. Mountain of myrrh . . . 
hill of frankincense. — She thus speaks of her native hills, where also her 
lover dwells. (Compare ii, 8; iv, 16; v, 5, 13; vi, 11 ; vii, 11, 12 ; viii, 14.) To 
her, the heights of Lebanon, and Amanah, and Shenir, and Hermon, are 
far more attractive than the presence of Solomon in all his glory. 



38 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap. IV. 



Solomon. 

7. Thou art all fair, my consort, 
And spot there is none in thee. 

8. With me away from Lebanon, O spouse, 
With me away from Lebanon thou shalt 

come ; 

Thou shalt look away from the top of Am- 
anah, 

Away from the top of Shenir and Hermon, 
Away from the dens of lions, away from the 
mountains of leopards. 

9. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister- 

spouse; 

Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thy 

eyes, 

With one little chain of thy necklace. 
10. How beautiful are thy loves, my sister-spouse; 



Act III, Sc. 2. 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



39 



How much better thy loves than wine, 
And the fragrance of thine ointments than all 
spices ! 

11. A honey-drop will thy lips distill, O spouse! 
Honey and milk are under thy tongue, 

And the fragrance of thy garments is like the 
fragrance of Lebanon. 

[Shulammith again looks away, as if unheeding his words of 
love and admiration. He pauses, and then again proceeds.] 

12. A garden locked is my sister-spouse, 
A spring locked, a fountain sealed. 

13. Thy offshoots are a paradise of pomegranates, 
Together with fruit of precious things. 
Cypress flowers, with nards; 

13. Thy offshoots. — All that proceeds from thee, as impressions made, 
influence of attractions, — the entire outflow of her general appearance 
and personality. These are the subject through verses 13-15, and the 
exotic plants of the king's garden are appropriately employed by him as 
images of the maiden's loveliness, and remind us of his traditional famil- 
iarity with all manner ol trees, and plants, and flowers. See 1 Kings iv, 33, 



40 THE SONG OF SONGS. Chap. IV. 

14. Nards and crocus, calamus and cinnamon, 
With all trees of frankincense; 

Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices ; 

15. A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, 
And flowing streams from Lebanon. 

Shulammith. 

[Aside, but so as to be beard by the king.] 

16. Awake, O north (wind), and come, O south! 
Breathe on my garden, let its spices flow. 

0 let my own love come to his garden, 

And let him eat the fruit of his precious 
things ! 

[The king becomes greatly excited by these words of Shulam- 
mith, and, impatient and presumptuous, he utters the follow- 
ing, as if to consummate his wishes by his own authority.] 

Solomon. 

V, 1. I have come to my garden, my sister-spouse; 

1 have plucked my myrrh with my spice, 



Act III, Sc. 3. 



THE SONG OF SONGS, 



41 



I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey, 
I have drunk my wine with my milk. 
Eat, 0 comrades ! 

Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O lovers ! 

[Exeunt.] 

ZTbtrfc Scene, v, 2— vm, 4 . 

[A room in the palace, in which Shulammith and the women are 
together. Shulammith relates a troublesome dream, from 
which she has but recently awaked, and seems to imagine 
that her lover may have been seeking for her in vain.] 

Shulammith. 

2. I was asleep, but my heart was awake : 
Hark! the voice of my love, knocking! 
" Open (said he) for me, my sister, my consort, 

my dove, my perfect one; 
My head is filled with dew, 
My locks with drops of the night." 



42 THE SONG OF SONGS. Chap. V. 

3. I have put off my tunic (said I), how shall I 

put it on ? 

I have washed my feet, how shall I soil them ? 

4. My love sent away his hand from the door- 

latch, 

And my affections were in tumult over him. 

5. Up rose I to open to my love, 

And my hands were dropping with myrrh, 
And my fingers with myrrh overflowing on the 
handles of the bolt. 

6. I, myself, opened for my love, 

But my love had turned aside, had passed by. 
My soul went forth at his word. 

6. My soul went forth at his word. — The exact meaning is somewhat 
doubtful. At his word is equivalent to when he spoke, and the reference 
is most naturally to the words attributed to him above in verse 2. " When 
he thus spoke," she seems to say, " my soul forsook me : I was like one 
who had lost her senses, and acted insanely in not opening at once to my 
beloved." 



Act III, Sc. 3. 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



43 



I sought him, but I found him not; 

I called him, but he did not answer me. 

7. They found me — the watchmen who go round 

in the city ; 
They struck me, they wounded me, 
They took away my shawl from off me, — 
The watchmen of the walls. 

8. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, 
If ye should find my love, 

What will ye tell him but that I am sick with 
love! 

One of the Women. 

9. What is thy love more than any love, 
O thou beauty among the women ? 

8. / adjure you. — As three acts of the drama close with an adjuration 
similar to this (compare ii, 7; iii, 5; and viii, 4), there has been a strong 
temptation for exegetes to find here also the conclusion of an act. But 
the question which follows in verse 9 relates so directly to the words of 
this adjuration as really to forbid such a division at this place. 



44 THE SONG OF SONGS. Chap. V. 

What is thy love more than any love, 
That thou hast thus adjured us? 

Shulammith. 

10. My love is bright and ruddy, distinguished 

from ten thousand ; 

11. His head is purest gold; his locks are hill on 

hill, dark as the raven; 

12. His eyes are like doves over streams of water, 

washing in milk, sitting on fullness ; 

13. His cheeks are like a bed of spice, towers of 

aromatics ; 

His lips are lilies, dropping liquid myrrh; 

10-16. What the Apollo Belvedere is in the sculptor's art, this word- 
picture is in Oriental poetry. 

12. Doves over streams. — Picture of exquisite delight; their quick 
movements seem to make them twinkle with joy, and when sitting still, 
with full breast prominent, they are emblems of comfort. 



Act III, Sc. 3. THE SONG OF SONGS. 45 

14. His hands are cylinders of gold, filled in with 

the (gems of) Tarshish; 
His body is a work of ivory, covered with 
sapphires ; 

15. His legs are pillars of white marble, set upon 

bases of purest gold ; 
His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the 
cedars ; 

16. His palate is manifold sweetness, and he is 

all delightful things. 
This is my love, and this my friend, O daugh- 
ters of Jerusalem ! 

One of the Women. 
VI, 1. Whither has gone thy love, O thou beauty 
among the women? 
Whither has thy love turned aside, and we 
will seek him with thee ? 



4 6 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap VI. 



Shulammith. 

2. My love has gone down to his garden, to the 

beds of spice, 
To feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 

3. I am my love's, and my love is mine, — 
The one who feeds among the lilies. 

[Enter King Solomon.] 

Solomon. 

4. Fair art thou, my consort, as Tirzah, 
Comely as Jerusalem, 
Awe-inspiring as the bannered hosts. 

5. Turn away thine eyes from before me, 
For they have taken me by storm ; 

Thy hair, how like the flock of goats couched 
along mount Gilead ! 



5. Hair. — Compare iv, 1. 



Act III, Sc. 3. 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



47 



6. Thy teeth are like the flock of ewes which have 

gone up from the washing, 
All of which are twin-bearing, and a bereaved 
one is not among them ; 

7. Like a slice of the pomegranate is thy temple 

from behind thy veil. 

8. Sixty are they who are queens, and eighty 

concubines, 
And virgins without number ; — 
One only is my dove, my perfect one ; 

9. One only is she of her mother, choice one is 

she of her that begat her ; 
Daughters look on her and pronounce her 
blessed, 

8. Sixty . . . eighty. — Allusion to the numerous wives and concu- 
bines of Solomon's harem, which the poet conceives as not having yet 
reached the numbers mentioned in 1 Kings xi, 3. Virgins. — Like those 
of Esther ii, 3, gathered out of many provinces, and intended in time to 
be added to the wives and concubines. 



48 THE SONG OF SONGS. Chap. VI. 

Queens and concubines, and they extol her : 

10. " Who is this (they say), that looks forth like 

the morning, 
Beautiful as the white moon, clear as the 

warm sun, 
Awe-inspiring as the bannered hosts?" 

Shulammith. 

11. Unto the nut-garden I went down, to see the 

greens of the valley, 
To see whether the vines were in blossom, 
whether the pomegranates bloomed, 

12. I know not (how) my soul put me into the 

chariots of Amminadib. 

[At the mention of her capture, Shulammith shows great emo- 
tion, and turns away as if attempting to withdraw and make 
her escape from a presence she dislikes and fears. Compare 
her similar emotion in Act I, Scene i.] 

12. Amminadib. — Others translate and read, my princely people. 



Act III, Sc. 3. THE SONG OF SONGS. 



49 



The Women. 

13. Return, return, O thou Shulammite; 
Return, return, and let us gaze at thee! 

Shulammith. 
What will ye gaze at in the Shulammite? 

The Women. 

Like a dancing of the double-host. 
VII, 1. How beautiful thy steps in the sandals, O 
princely daughter ! 
The roundings of thy thighs are like orna- 
ments, work of an artist's hands; 

13. Double-host. — Mahanaim, in allusion to Genesis xxxii, 1, 2. They 
mean that the dancing of Shulammith would be an angelic sight, like 
that of Jacob when the angels met him. In accordance with that thought, 
the women at once proceed to say (or sing as a chorus) how admirable 
her appearance in the dance would be. 



50 THE SONG OF SONGS. Chap. VII. 

2. Thy waist is the round goblet, — let there not 

be wanting the mixed wine ! 
Thy body a heap of wheat set round with 
lilies ; 

3. Thy two breasts like two fawns, twins of the 

gazelle; 

4. Thy neck like a tower of ivory; 

Thine eyes pools in Heshbon, by the gate of 

Bath-rabbim ; 
Thy nose like the tower of Lebanon, looking 

towards Damascus; 

5. Thy head upon thee is like Carmel, 
And the locks of thy head like purple, — 
A king is bound fast in the ringlets ! 

2. Goblet . . . wine. — The one suggests the other, and so the 
chorus, having mentioned the beautiful waist as resembling the round 
goblet, add the words which follow in the general sense of, " Let no joy 
or source of good cheer be wanting." Give thyself up to all the delights 
which become a form so admirable. 



Act III, Sc. 3. THE SONG OF SONGS. 51 

Solomon. 

6. How fair art thou, and how charming art thou, 

0 love, in the delightful enjoyments! 

7. This, thy stature, is like to a palm-tree, 
And thy breasts to clusters. 

8. I said, I will go up into the palm-tree, 

1 will take hold upon its branches, 

And let thy breasts, I pray thee, be as clusters 

of the vine, 
And the fragrance of thy nose as the apples, 

9. And thy palate as the goodly wine — 

ShuLAMMITH [suddenly interrupting]. 

Going down for my love smoothly, 

Making talkative the lips of them that sleep. 

6. Delightful enjoyments — -Like the dances, songs and merriment of 
festal occasions ; especially the dances> which the women ot Solomon's 
harem would fain behold. 

9. Thy palate as the good ivine— These words, associated with the 
mention of the apples and the vine^ are exciting reminders of her own 



52 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap. VII. 



10. I belong to my love, and on me is his desire. 

11. 0 come, my love, and let us away to the 

field, 

Let us lodge in the hamlets, 

12. Let us up early for the vineyards, 

Let us see whether the vine has blossomed, 
The bud opened, the pomegranates bloomed: 
There will I give my loves to thee. 

13. The mandrakes have given forth fragrance, 

lover. Compare chapters ii, 3, 4 ; v, 16. They awaken the wild emotion 
displayed in the last four verses of the First Act (ii, 4-7), and at the men 
tion of the palate and wine of the good (such is the exact rendering of 
the Hebrew here), Shulammith suddenly interrupts the king, takes up the 
sentiment that seems about to fall from his lips, and gives it a reference 
to her own lover, whom she calls upon to come and lead her away to her 
home among the vineyards. She will endure the king's advances no 
longer, and, acting out a measure of the contempt expressed in the last 
part of viii, 7, she continues her impassioned speech to the close of the 
act (viii, 4), which ends with the usual adjuration to the daughters of 
Jerusalem. 

10. On me his desire. — Man's desire is on the woman; her desire 
towards the man. (Genesis iii, 16.) 



Act III, Sc. 3. THE SONG OF SONGS. 53 

And over our portals are all precious things ; 

New things, also old things, my love, have I 
kept hidden for thee. 
VIII, 1. 0 that thou wert as brother to me, 

Nursing at the breasts of my mother ! 

Should I find thee without I might kiss thee, 

Also they would not despise me. 
2. I would lead thee, I would bring thee to the 
house of my mother, 

(And there) thou shouldest instruct me. 

I would give thee to drink of spiced wine, 

Of the juice of my pomegranate. 

13. Precious things. — Choice fruits preserved and kept in store for 
rare occasions. 

viii, 1. As brother. — She would fain have her lover as innocently fa- 
miliar as an own brother, whom she might openly kiss and fondle Math- 
out exposure to scorn or contempt. 

2. Bring thee to the house of my mother .—This longed-for joy has 
been already in her dreams (iii, 4), and finds happy realization further 
on (viii, 5). 



54 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap. VIII. 



3. His left hand shall be under my head, 
And his right hand shall embrace me. 

[Turning towards the women.] 

4. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, 
Why will ye awaken, and why will ye rouse up 
The passion of love until it please ? 

[Exeunt!] 

3. His hand.— Compare ii, 6. By these words she means that both 
Solomon and the women of his harem shall know that the absent friend, 
for whom her soul is longing, is the only one whom she will ever permit 
to embrace her with a lover's rights. 



Act IV. 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



55 



Act IV. Chapter VIII, 5-14. 



[A single scene, in a country place, near the home of Shu- 
lammith, who now appears restored from her captivity and 
detention in Solomon's court. She and her lover, arm in 
arm, are approaching, while her brothers, the same as those 
referred to in the first scene of the drama, stand near the 
house, and look in apparent surprise to see them thus draw- 
ing near.] 

One of the Brothers. 
5. Who is this coming up from the wilderness, 
Leaning upon her lover? 

5. Who is this from the wilderness — Compare the opening words of 
the third act, chapter iii, 6. Leaning upon her lover. — These words per- 
mit us to infer and understand that the lover had sought after Shulam- 
mith, and in some way rescued her from the house of Solomon. Now he 
leads her back in triumph to her home. I roused thee up. — The word so 
translated here is most naturally understood, as in verse 4, of rousing up 
the passion of love. Here, he says, as he leads her back to her home 
again, here I first awakened thy love. 



56 THE SONG OF SONGS. Chap. VIII. 

The LOVER [addressing Shulammith]. 

Under the apple-tree I roused thee up; 
Yonder thy mother travailed with thee, 
Yonder she travailed, she gave thee birth. 

Shulammith. 

6. O set me as a signet-ring upon thy heart, 

As a signet-ring upon thine arm! 

For strong as death is love ; 

Inexorable as Hell is jealousy; 

Its flames are flames of fire, 

The flashing flames of Jah. 
7: Many waters can not quench the passion of 
love, 

And rivers can not overwhelm it ; 



6. Jah.— A shortened poetic form of the name Jehovah, the God of 
Israel. 



Act IV. 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



57 



If a man would give all the substance of his 

house for love, 
They would utterly despise him. 

[The brothers now recognize the situation, and, in the presence 
of the lovers, proceed to talk coolly of her prospective mar- 
riage, insinuating that this courtship is somewhat prema- 
ture, and may need some interposition on their part. Their 
language is in keeping with what is said of them in chap- 
ter i, 6. 

One of the Brothers. 

8. A sister is ours, — a little one, and breasts she 
has not ; 

What shall we do for our sister in the day 
when she is spoken for? 



7. Give substance for love.— A fling at the efforts of Solomon and his 
associates to force true love against its will. Not that he formally offered 
to buy her love, but his women's words in i, 11; Shulatnmith's in viii, 
ii, 12; and such display for effect as in iii, 11, are sufficient to give point 
and force to this utterance of the maiden. 



58 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap. VIII. 



Another Brother. 

9. If she be a wall, we will build thereon a castle 

of silver; 

But if she be a door, we will fasten over it a 
board of cedar. 

SHULAMMITH [with indignant emotion]. 

10. I am a wall, and my breasts like the towers! 
Then was I in his eyes as a woman finding 

peace. 

9. A wall. — That is, opposing with firm resistance all efforts of un- 
worthy lovers, and all unhallowed arts of seduction. A door. — That is, 
open and ready to welcome all approaches of such as would profess love 
for her. 

10. Then was /.—She refers vividly to the time when Solomon was 
trying to win her affection, hi his eyes. — In the eyes of Solomon. She 
means to say that Solomon looked upon her as one that was seeking for 
a husband; for such is the meaning of the phrase, a woman finding peace, 
equivalent to "finding rest," in Ruth i, 9; iii, 1. The idea is that of at- 
taining rest and peace in the house of a husband. The word peace (He- 
brew Shalom) is perhaps used instead of rest, with a designed allusion to 
the name of Solomon (Hebrew Shelomoh). 



Act IV. 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



59 



11. A vineyard belonged to Solomon in Baal- 

hamon, 

He gave the vineyard to the keepers, 
Each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand 
of silver; 

12. My vineyard which is for me is before me; 
The thousand be for thee, O Solomon, 
And hundreds for them that keep its fruit! 

The Lover. 

13. O thou dweller in the gardens, 
Companions are listening to thy voice, 
Cause me to hear. 

11, 12. The purport of these verses is, that all the vineyard-wealth of 
Solomon was not sufficient to turn her heart from her rustic home and 
true lover. Solomon is welcome to his thousands of annual revenue ; 
only let her have her own. This self-defense and triumphant vindication 
of Shulammith stop all further questions, and all about her stand silent, 
listening to her impassioned voice. 



6o 



THE SONG OF SONGS. 



Chap. VIII. 



SHULAMMITH [singing]. 

14. Flee, O my love, and be for thine own sake 
like a gazelle, 
Or a fawn of the hinds on the mountains of 
spices. 

[Exeunt.] 

14. This last verse is to be understood as a fragment of song which 
Shulammith has been wont to sing for the delight of her lover in former 
days, and which she knows is specially pleasing to him. Compare the 
language of ii, 14-17. With this song of the maiden, the drama ends, and 
the two lovers, arm in arm, pass from the scene, conscious that true love 
has triumphed. She clings as a signet-ring to his arm, and he knows 
that her love for him is " strong as death." 



Conclubing ©baervatione* 



The foregoing analysis and explanation of the Song of 
Songs has shown, we think beyond question, that the ex- 
quisite drama is a poetic tribute to human love. Such a 
pure, unchangeable affection, which " many waters can not 
quench," is as heavenly as it is human, and the celebration 
of it is worthy of a place in the Sacred Volume. It serves 
the purposes of Holy Scripture as truly as the stories of 
Joseph and Jephthah and Samson, or the lessons of the 
books of Ruth and Esther and Job. It exhibits the change- 
less devotion of two faithful souls whom plighted love 
unites as u one flesh" for a life-long companionship. Such 
love deserves the highest admiration. It is immeasurably 
above the unhallowed sensual life that can talk compla- 
cently of "eighty concubines" (vi, 8), and show an inordi- 
nate desire to add another to the number. The fidelity of 
two hearts, inseparably bound together by mutual love, is 

the divinely ordered foundation of the marriage covenant, 

61 



62 



CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 



and of holiest family life. Well might an inspired poet 
sing of snch love as something " strong as death," and 
utterly incapable of being bought and sold. 

And if one looks to see some allegorical idea in this 
Song, or a symbolical portraiture of the 

"Love divine, all love excelling," 

he may find in such a love as is here celebrated the best 
possible representation of the relation existing between 
Christ and his Church. The holy mystery set forth by the 
apostle in Ephesians v, 22-33, * s illustrated and enhanced 
in every such example of virtuous fidelity as our exposition 
of the Song of Songs exhibits. But would it not have 
been unfortunate for Paul to have named Solomon, and any 
one of his numerous wives or concubines, as a true type, 
either of the hallowed marriage relation, or of the loves of 
Christ and his Church? To me it seems no better than a 
singular infatuation to imagine that the marriage of the 
uxorious Solomon to Pharaoh's daughter, or to any other 
princess, is better adapted to represent the " great mystery 
concerning Christ and his Church," than the pure, unchang- 
ing, and unchangeable love of a manly shepherd and his 
affianced bride. 



CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 



63 



It is worthy of note, that in Isaiah's song of the vine- 
yard (Isaiah' v, 1-7), in which it is said that "the vineyard 
of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel," the delightful 
friend {yadhidh) is called " my love," or "my beloved," the 
identical Hebrew word (dodhi) which is employed through- 
out the Song of Songs to denote the shepherd-lover, for 
whom the Shulainmite maiden sighs and sings. 

A diligent study of this beautiful song admonishes us 
that we should not come to the perusal of the Holy Scrip- 
tures with a priori notions of what they ought or ought 
not to contain. Nor are we at liberty to assume, on dog- 
matic grounds, any theory of divine inspiration which inter- 
feres with the free investigation of the Biblical writings. 
Criticism has its rights, and when controlled by sound judg- 
ment and sincere desire to know the truth, will lead us to a 
deeper appreciation as well as a clearer understanding of the 
Scriptures. The different portions of the Bible, given in 
divers manners (Hebrews i, 1), constitute a wonderful va- 
riety, and they are all " profitable for teaching, for reproof, 
for correction, and for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim- 
othy iii, 16). But he will surely fall into serious error, who 
fails 'to see that this most instructive volume is as truly 
human as divine. 



Jls a Iilg among f^e fronts, 

Jfts an appls-toe among fy* Ixtt* of iFr^ forssf, 

^o i« flje rljangBlsss bsoofion of frao faiffffnl IoxJEtg* 

(Eosn Solomon, in all fjtg glory, 

fflm not arragsb like one of tt;£g:e* 
6 4 



C V. 

( c c 

c C C 

etc 
<.c«c_c 

CjC: 



■ ^> 

CC c 4 

c C CCc 

S> c c C CI' CCC 
//// ^cfggg 

e'e c c c c ccc 
:c c c < c CCC < 

C C C C CCC CCC( < 
C C C CCC«C 
Cc c < <c <c c<rcx 
c CXC ccrccc 

C «t< cC Ccc C«jC 

c <£ • cC. cxr^c 
c <ccccc c c c ^T c 



c c 

c c 
c cc 

C O: 

C Cc 



ccc 

CC 




ac cc 

c CC 

c CC 

c cc 

E cc 

C CC 
c CC 

cc cc 
cC. . CC 
<C_ CC 



. ! < <CC( C e l. c C c c_ 
C <CCcc.ee <c CCC 

c<cccccc< ccc 
c cCc c < CCc c < c 
c c<c cc C C CCC, 
C CCC CC CC CCC" 
CCCCCX CC C CC c 

cccccc cc c. <rc < 
c ccc.ee CC CCC c 
C ccc cc cc ccc c 

CCC« C C CC CCC C 



& CCC 

v ccc :: 



cc ceo 

c C CCO 

CC <MM 

:■ c < t<< 

:<cc V c 
cc c ceOjj 

c c < C 



c <r c ccc c c c <• c 

, C CC CCC CC Co cCC 

:' C CC C(( C C C c cC C 

C C CCC C C C c CC C 

C C C CCC C C c (CO 

(C C ccc < c c cccc 

c CC c CC c C cc ccc c 
c <:. c c c c c cc cc c 

c c c C CC Cc CCCC 

cCC c C C c<c c c ccc c 
c C c cCC'C Cc CCC 

C.*C c c C C cC C • CCCC 
CC C C CC C u CC C C 

CC ' C C cc c ccc 

< i c < < cc c< cc c cc 
C C cc 

< * 



ccc c 

CC < 
C cC < 

ccc 

< CC 

C c cc 

< c cc^ 

< c cc 
<: c < cc 

C cc 
C^ ' cc 



ccc 

<CC cc 
CCC 
ccc 
cccc 

• X CC 



'C^"' cc cx^i^r ^ 
C C CCCCC (CC c C 

cc . cc ar. ee ccc c c 

CC cC i C Cc cCC C C 

CCC €1 c c < T^V c c 



c cc c 
^ c <• 

c \c CC 

C cC CC 
<L C CC 

c C CC 

, C C cc 
c c cc 
P c c cc 

C c c cc 
C c c << • 
C c c cc 
C C c cc 
C c c cc . 
C C c cC < 
«: c c cc 

< C C CC< -< 

<r. c r cc; - 

< c r cc cc 
C C ' CC cc 

r c c (C cc 
: ( c cc cc < 

v i CC cc < 

C cc cc. 



CCCC CC CC CCC < 

ec;cc cc cccccc c 

c C ccc CC <C ccC cc 
C Ccc cc cc <c c 

Cccc CC cc cc cc 

c C C cc CC CC CC cc 

CC C cc CC CC cC cc 

CC Ccc CC <C CC CC 

cc d ec; CC S C cc 

C C CC C C <T cC CC ' 

cc ccc:: CC C cc cc 
c c cc: < c c <c- c 
< ccc CC C C c 

c c cc ccc < cz <r <c c 

c cc <CC C C ^ 
< cccc <c- c c - 
c cc <~< < c c ^C 
ccc CCC (Cc 

CCC cccccc 
ccc CCC cc c c < 
CCC cc c ccc c 

C C CCC CC C C C c 
CCC CCC cccc 

ccc cccccc:! v 

< <L < CCCCCC C 'c 

C c C C.c c c d c c 
ccc c cccCcCc - 
Cc CCC cc c x 
C c (CCCCCC c < 
C cc cC Cc cC C c 
C c cc < oC C c 

C c cC C C C c 

C Cc CC CC<r C C c.C 

C C cC CCC' c c cc 

: cc.. cC c c c cc 

c ccc cc C C C c< 
C CC xCC c c < < 

c <: 
c c 

C'C 

: cc 
c 
c 



cCC 
CCC 
c C4 

c 

c 

C CI < 

C 

c < cc 

- ccc 

cc 
cc 
cc 

c c 
cc 
ccc 

ccc 

. ccc 

cc .;• 



% 

% 



CC C 

cc c- 

CCC c 

CCC c 
cCC C 
ccc c 

ccc 



4Z : c 

c 



c c 
c c 
cC C * 

CC < 

CCC 1 

cc c I 

cc c ^ 

ccc c 

cC C ■ 
.cc cc 
cCC 
cc c 
' cc c « 

ccc ' 
CCC 4 

<C j 

C CCc « 

cc. 

cc C«i 



LlBRfi RV OF CO' 



0 000 824 



